Thread by @DanLamothe

The Thursday background briefing at the Pentagon about the war in Ukraine has concluded. It’s Day 15.

Some takeaways:

Yesterday, there was a great deal of focus on the U.S. scuttling a Polish proposal to send MiG-29 jets to Ukraine via U.S. officials in exchange for the United State sending Poland some F-16s. It’s seen as high-risk with limited value in the Pentagon’s eyes.

Today, the senior U.S. defense official briefing reporters said the U.S. *is* considering sending other sophisticated weapons, including air-defense weapons that are more significant than MANPADS. That means something better than a Stinger missile.

The senior defense official declined to say what that more sophisticated system could be. One option might be the S-300, an air defense system the Ukrainians have in limited quantities. Some NATO countries, such as Bulgaria, have it available.

Some troubling battlefield updates: Chernihiv is now assessed to be isolated, joining Mariupol in that regard. Bombardment and ground battles continue in numerous locations.

The front of the long-stalled Russian military convoy north of Kyiv has made incremental progress, moving from about 20 km outside the city center to 15 km away. That's a new development.

Another advance on Kyiv is now 40 km to the east of the city, the senior U.S. defense official says.

U.S. has made weapons deliveries to the Ukrainians within the last 24 hours, with more planned within the day. Plan is to get them “as much and as fast as we can, for as long as we can.” No transfer has been interrupted by the Russians – “yet,” the senior defense official says.

Pentagon now assesses that 775 missiles have now been launched at Ukraine during the invasion. That number continues to rise by a few dozen per day.

Pentagon throws cold water on any proposal to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Ukrainians are not familiar with it, so doing so would requiring U.S. troops in Ukraine, senior defense official says.

U.S. does not have an assessment for what kind of weapon was used on the hospital in Mariupol.

“It’s entirely possible that we will never know that,” the senior U.S. defense official says, acknowledging the vast destruction caused.

Pentagon also attempts again to stamp out conspiracy theories that there are U.S. bioweapon labs in Ukraine.

"We're doing this because the Russians and Chinese thought it was important to put out a bunch of lies," the senior defense official says. "They just flat-out lie."

Update this morning: Our story today about American veterans joining the war effort in Ukraine in a variety of capacities.

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…